Powdered beverage mixes, such as KOOL-AID® and TANG®, have been commercially available for many years. They are relatively long shelf life, stable products that are reconstituted from the dry mixes when desired without the need to handle and transport the bulk fluid carrier. Powdered beverage products generally are an alternative product choice for consumers with so-called ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage products. RTD beverages offer a consumer a different form of convenience because the consumer does not need to formulate the drink from powder and water before consuming it. Beyond these differences, the conventional reconstituted powdered beverages and RTD beverages are often very similar to consumers. The food and beverage industry would be interested in novelties that can be introduced in powdered beverage mixes to help differentiate these product lines and spark consumer interest in powdered beverage mixes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535 describes an edible confection with a recognizable shape that repeatedly rises and sinks in a transparent carbonated beverage due to its changing buoyancy resulting from physical attachment of carbonation bubbles derived from the beverage onto the surface of the confection until it becomes buoyant enough to cause it to rise to the surface of the beverage where the attached bubbles escape to the atmosphere causing the confection to become less buoyant such that it descends back towards the bottom of the drink; the attachment of carbonation bubbles begins again, and the confection's motion cycle repeats itself. U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535 describes a preference for low solubility gelatin-based confections that do not muddy the beverage and provide a suitable surface for nucleation of carbonation bubbles. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535, it also has been known that raisins or small clay balls undergo the phenomenon of ascending and descending in carbonated fluids by the attachment and surface-release of carbonation bubbles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535 also describes toy submarines having an interior chamber holding a charge of baking powder, whereby the toy ascends and descends in water. The motion in this case is a result of bubbles from the carbonated beverage collecting and releasing from particles of a specific density and surface area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,138 describes dry carbonating agents comprised of a carbohydrate/metal bicarbonate complex prepared by reacting a carbohydrate in aqueous solution with metal hydroxide or oxide at a temperature not exceeding 25° C. to form a carbohydrate/metal hydroxide adduct to which carbon dioxide is then introduced to form the complex, which is dried for use in beverage powders. Upon rehydration, the complex releases carbon dioxide and carbonates the beverage. The carbohydrates are described as mono-,di-, and polysaccharides and polyols.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,106,883 and 5,562,939 describe inclusions suspended within a liquid, in which the inclusions are pieces of a jelly-like substance described as fruit pulp cells, fruit pulp particles, fruit pieces, gold particles, droplets of flavoring, or clouding agents. A pre-gel solution containing gellan gum is incorporated into a liquid composition with the inclusions. The resulting suspending solution is then agitated to suspend the inclusions such that they do not float or sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,326 describes a fruit flavored dry beverage mix which comprises sugar, food acid, flavor, color, and a clouding agent obtained by co-drying an aqueous dispersion comprising a major amount of solubilized maltodextrin and a minor amount of xantham gum and titanium dioxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,209 describes an encapsulated product in the form of a caplet containing an active ingredient that can be incorporated into a food item, soft confectionary product, hard confectionary product, jelly gum confectionary product, dry beverage, or chewing gum product.
There remains a need for improved approaches for introducing movable components in beverages that provide a more stimulating visual impact upon the consumer to increase the consumer's enjoyment of the beverage. The present invention fulfills these, as well as other needs and objectives, as will be apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present invention.